The range of data ARPU is increasing in line with expansion of the scope form high- to middle-ARPU customers. Voice ARPU is down ¥110 YOY, but as you have noted, the "LTE Plan" is fueling an increase in the minutes of use (MOU) billed. We believe we are making good progress toward our target of turning voice ARPU back up YOY in 4Q of the current fiscal year.
The amount of discount applied is down ¥340 YOY. Of this amount, "Maitsuki Discount" accounts for a negative ¥230, and this portion has flattened out.

ARPU and subscriber acquisition are both proceeding favorably. We still need to determine what impact the iPhone will have on this year's results, and as in previous years we will probably need to wait until around the 3Q announcement at the beginning of the calendar year to make any revisions. We also need to take the year-end shopping season into account, which is why we have not revised our outlook yet.

This probably appears to be the case because of the significant costs we have incurred in 2Q, but we are holding the "Maitsuki Discount" flat. Unit commissions are up ¥12,000 YOY, but reducing the set monthly "Maitsuki Discount" amount by ¥350 has an impact of ¥8,400 over a 24-month period, so the real difference is a ¥3,600 increase in the acquisition cost. This is showing up in the 2Q figures. At the same time, we have reduced the applicability of discount points toward reducing handset prices, so the total selling cost actually has not increased all that much. We are controlling costs carefully. In some cases, we have made selling cost investments on some handset models where we have a bit more leeway, but we do not plan to adopt this approach as a general sales strategy. Our stance on adapting to market trends remains unchanged. We plan to acquire as many subscribers as we can while maintaining profits.

The net increase in mobile is proceeding favorably in comparison with the targets we have set, and ARPU is also above expectations. We believe this progress will continue, and at present we do not expect any major changes in this trend.

We are not thinking much about paying down debt with any cash that is left over after taking part in necessary M&A activity and paying dividends. The scale of funds for M&A is a topic for future discussion; we are not ready to elucidate on this point at the moment. We are considering a number of alternatives.

Questioner 3

We will invest in M&A that is necessary for future growth. In addition to communications, where necessary we will consider M&A in "upper-layer" areas that are based on communications. I would like to provide further detail, but am unable to do so today.

We are aware of their margins, but a direct comparison is not possible, due to differences in accounting standards and other factors. First of all, we plan to maintain solid double-digit growth in operating income. Once we do that, the income margin should rise naturally.

Questioner 4

As we have indicated in the past, we are aiming for ¥290 for the fiscal year ending March 2014 as a whole. In 2Q, value ARPU for smartphone users was ¥440. Among those, the figure was ¥690(Note) for "au Smart Pass" members. In 1Q, we had not yet begun charging for the service for use with iOS, so the value ARPU for au Smart Pass members was ¥610(Note). In 2Q, after we introduced charges, the figure rose to ¥690(Note), and we would like to see that trend continues. As much as possible, we aim to promote "au Smart Pass" subscriptions.

Note)

The figure has been revised from that announced on October 28, 2013.
¥669 > ¥610
¥755 > ¥690

Now that NTT DOCOMO has begun selling the iPhone, we recognize that it will be difficult to expand sales further. Our weapons of choice are "au Smart Value" and "au Smart Pass," and we will deploy these fully as our basis for expanding sales. We do not plan to step up competition ourselves. Rather, we plan to increase sales by promoting sales channels that have not yet been taken advantage of.

We naturally plan to surpass the figures that we promised at the start of the fiscal year. I do not see that we have any additional leeway on sales competition, so the natural progression should take us to around that level. That being said, at the moment we do not know what competition for iPhone business will look like. We will need some time to see how this plays out.

Unfortunately, we do not release monthly ARPU trends. ARPU has favorable in 2Q, but even so it would be difficult for us to stage a YOY turnaround in 3Q. We are not planning to increase the "Maitsuki Discount," but we believe ARPU will turn positive YOY in 4Q.